Housewarming and Registering

As the date of closing on Casa ABBA creeps closer I've had a couple people ask if I'm going to have a house-warming (of course) and if a house-warming is something that you register for gifts for. My opinion, whether correct or not, is "heck yeah, I'm going to register for gifts!" There is no expectation in the near future for me to actually fall in love and get married and even less of a chance that I'm going to have kids, so this is probably the only chance that I'll have to do the whole registry thing.

Here's the rub...I've been living on my own for almost 20 years, so I'm pretty stocked with anything that I would NEED to register for. The Queen mentioned that I could register for towels and linens for the many bathrooms that I'll now have, but I'm planning on decorating those prior to having the house-warming.

So, I'm a little stuck as where I should register.... Do you think DSW has a registry?

2010 Book 6 - The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

I've wrapped up another book. This one, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, was a whim purchase as I wandered around Borders Bookstore last weekend. It was on the buy one get another 50% off, which I just couldn't pass up. It was a pretty fluff read, but interesting and cute in a weird sort of way. I can see a little of myself as a child in the narrator, Flavia de Luce, although not nearly as bright, annoying, precocious, or British....

Here is the back of the book write up:

In the summer of 1950 - and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches his as he takes his dying breath.

For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. "I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn't. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life."

An enthralling mystery, a piercing depiction of class and society, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is a wonderfully told tale of deception - and a rich literary delight.

For light reading, I would recommend it. Maybe for those of you headed to the beach this summer grab it and throw it in your bag, if it gets swept out to sea, not a huge loss, but something to chew on while soaking up some sun.

Flashback Friday

This time last year my folks came out to visit me in San Francisco. This is a table in a little Mexican restaurant that we went to for dinner one evening. My dad's hands are on the right, mine are on the left...we hold our hands in a very similar manner...

Parade Plans

This is a conversation I had last night with my sister:

ABBA: You knew that I'm not in DC, right?
Sis: Huh?
ABBA: My trip to DC was canceled.
Sis: Oh yeah, Mom told me that. So you aren't going until the Fall?
ABBA: Nope, going over Easter. I'm going to be there during the Cherry Blossom Festival. I'm going to get tickets and sit in the Grand Stand during the parade. I know, I'm a big dork, but hey, how many people do we know can say they saw the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade?
Sis: I have on my bucket list that I want to go see the Rose Bowl Parade.
ABBA: I HAVE CONNECTIONS!! I might be able to just make that work for us!!

FYI...connection out there...